As someone who is new to investing, I am still getting familiar with the terminology that investors are exposed to on a day to day basis. The risk warnings contain a lot of strong wording, and they were really intimidating to me at first. But upon further review, a standard risk warning only does so much to warn investors of the risks associated with any particular fund. Let’s take a look at a standard risk disclosure, and examine about what risks it actually warns investors.

The risk disclosure found on the Index Fund Advisors website is an example of a standard warning. It reads like this: “WARNING: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investment returns and principal value will fluctuate, so that investors’ shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Investing in any mutual fund, index or actively managed, does not guarantee that an investor will make money, avoid losing capital, or indicate that the investment is risk-free. Actively managed funds sometimes outperform index funds. An investor cannot determine in advance which actively managed fund will outperform the appropriate index. Just because a mutual fund is an index mutual fund, it does not guarantee a performance superior to an actively managed mutual fund. There are no absolute guarantees in investing.”

Some of the statements in this warning may lead us to believe that we can lose all of our money in an investment without legal recourse. For example, they say that no investment is risk-free and that they can not guarantee that you will not lose capital through investment. However, I recently found out about fund managers who sold LJM funds without disclosing the risks and now they could be in big trouble. People who invested in the LJM Preservation and Growth Fund were prompted with a standard risk warning similar to the one seen above. In February, that fund lost more than 80% of its value in just two days. This fund was partaking in extremely risky and complex investment strategies. They gave investors a standard warning, but failed to disclose the inherent risks with their unique tactics.

Surprisingly, there is actually a limit to how much one can lose before a hedge fund is considered to be acting negligently under the law. Investors recognize that by investing in mutual funds or index funds, they run the risk of losing a certain portion of their assets should the economy collapse or a certain sector do poorly. These investors are okay with this and in the worst situations they may end up losing a portion of their capital. Almost no investors will invest in a fund that exposes them to the chance of losing 80% of their investment, however. This is considered to be an extremely dangerous investment. Because of the inherent risks, LJM had a legal obligation to disclose their tactics to investors. When they failed to do this, they became legally responsible for the losses that their investors incurred. Thankfully, the attorneys are Erez Law are working to get this money back for investors.

While we all believe in business and government working for our benefit on some level, the reality is that you can’t count on that being the case at all times. In fact, plenty of businesses and government agencies eagerly break the rules if they can. Or, perhaps more charitably, people within those business and government offices will break the rules if they think they aren’t being watched.

An unfortunate amount of effort is put into some businesses and government offices in finding ways around the law and around accountability. This is the reason whistleblowers are so important. Often, whistleblowers come in for a whole lot of blowback. They may reveal things we don’t really want to face, and they may cost businesses or governments a lot of money to recover face, pay fines, or restore their processes to the legal level. Whistleblowers, then, are an inconvenience to a lot of people, and yet what they do is invaluable. That’s why we have to protect them.

All too often, we let whistleblowers down in multiple ways. In the first case, we don’t protect them legally. Even though, as the whistleblowing lawyers at the Melton Law Firm point out, there are laws in place to protect people in such an event, often, the law isn’t used to its full advantage to provide that legal protection. The reason for this is largely because of the second level: our social reaction.

While in theory we probably all laud whistleblowers, those negative consequences often make many of us turn on them. Perhaps they embarrass our political party or people we support in power in government. Perhaps they harm a major local business that may result in layoffs or raised prices. On the surface, then, from our limited perspective, we might see the whistleblower as an enemy.

And yet, that is simply not the case. Change the political party and consider the business in the next town over, and you’d clearly be glad to see the whistle blown on that operation. That’s all the more true because of the kinds of things whistleblowers expose, such as (once again, according to Melton Law Firm): tax violations, embezzlement, fraud, Ponzi schemes, insider trading, and unlawful billing. Those are major issues, and only some of the most common ones whistleblowers expose.

But they won’t get the protection they need (and they also will probably stop coming forward) if we don’t all come together to insist they get the full protection of the law and the full support of their communities.

In these partisan times, it’s easy to only support those who benefit your beliefs or your immediate position, but we need to see beyond that and remember to support those who are doing an absolute good for our society. That’s why we have to make sure whistleblowers continue to come forward and they continue to be supported, both at the community level and at the legal level.

We need more people in this country concerned about workers’ quality of life, income, and rights.

For decades now, America has only paid attention to the so-called “job creators.” We have heard all that they need for a perfect environment to thrive. If they need lower taxes, they get them. If they need less regulation, they get it. If they need an erosion of workers’ rights, they get that too.

We now live in a time when the minimum wage is massively out of date, in which it is now almost impossible for a family to support itself on one income, in which unions are dying off and with them, well-paying, long-term jobs that promised some security in life. So far, we’ve seen little happening in Washington that might help relieve these problems. In fact, Washington seems determined to keep pushing the other way, to keep cutting taxes, and regulations, and workers’ rights.

That’s why we need more people dedicating their time to helping the American worker. We need people volunteering for this issue. We need people campaigning on this issue. We need people defending those who have been abused by their employers. We need every household talking about how unfairly the American worker is treated.

Because the American worker is treated very unfairly. Compared to other developed countries, America is incredibly far behind on most important issues. Almost every country in the world offers some form of maternity leave; some even offer paternity leave, America offers nothing. All developed countries have some form of universal health care that covers all its citizens, America is still far from that and Washington is trying to push back on the gains made over the last decade. Most countries have thriving unions to protect workers, America’s unions are dying. Finally, every developed country ensures that every employee gets several weeks of paid leave every year—medical and vacation—only America doesn’t guarantee this.

The situation is dire. The American worker is suffering from low wages, overworking, poor health care, and few people there to defend him or her.

So, what can you do?

That depends on who you are. If you have the money, be sure to donate some to candidates who support pro-worker policies. If you have time, volunteer for organizations that defend workers or educate the general populace about workers’ rights. If you’re a lawyer or studying to be one, consider expanding your expertise into the area of workers’ rights, and take cases to help those who need help most, even when they aren’t the most lucrative.

And, no matter who you are, be sure to vote in every election. Vote only for those candidates who clearly articulate that their allegiance is with the workers of America, and not with the “job creators” who have pushed this country into such a desperate position.

When you think about oral health, the first things that come into your mind are teeth. That is okay, because the teeth are truly essential parts of oral health, but it is important to point out that the gums are equally important.

Not taking care of your gums may even lead to gum disease, and ultimately, to tooth loss. So, you should take care of your gums as well, because if you focus too much on your teeth and disregard the other parts of your mouth, you may still end up losing those teeth anyway.

Brush your teeth and gums

If you don’t brush your teeth properly and regularly, food debris, plaque, and bacteria may accumulate enough to damage both your teeth and gums. Also, it is a good idea to brush your gums lightly with a circular motion, to remove further debris that may travel around your mouth during brushing. Bacteria is really the danger you have to worry about. Brush twice a day.

Floss once a day

If you need to brush twice a day, you only need to floss once. Flossing is important in removing particles, because your toothbrush may not be able to reach all the little spaces in your mouth, particularly those between your teeth.

Avoid smoking

Even if you clean your mouth properly, you may still have gum problems if you expose it to harmful products, like tobacco. Smoking has been known to be linked with oral problems, not to mention that it can weaken your immune system. If you have a weak immune system, it will not be very effective in fighting off gum infections.

Visit your dentist regularly

It cannot be stressed enough that bacteria are the main enemies of your gums. Brushing and flossing are not perfect methods in removing debris, particles, and bacteria, because you may miss some spots. If you go to the dentist, he can clean your teeth effectively, reducing the risk of gum problems. Also, a regular visit to a professional ensures that you do not have any oral problems, and even if you do, at least they will be detected and treated immediately before they become big burdens.

Driving while under the influence of alcohol is illegal because of how dangerous it can be. DWI penalties include fines, license suspensions, and jail times, and their severity may depend on a variety of factors, such as the number of times the offense has been committed.

This just proves that those who enforce the law take drunk driving seriously. This is because they clearly know how it can be dangerous, not only for the drunk drivers themselves, but also for the innocent motorists around them.

Physical

Alcohol affects you physically, mentally, and emotionally. Physically, it can affect your body coordination. The movement of your eyes, hands, and feet is a significant factor in driving, so failure to coordinate these body parts may result into accidents.

Alcohol also gives you intense feelings of relaxation, which may make you feel fatigued or sleepy. There may be instances where you are already nodding your head and closing your eyes because of these feelings. Worse, you can even fall asleep.

Mental

Your mental condition is also important to ensure your safety on the road. A single mental lapse may be enough to get you into an accident. You may not fully understand traffic lights and run through red lights. You may not comprehend warning signs and crash into a construction site ahead.

Alcohol also affects your reaction time. If a pedestrian suddenly crosses the road, you may not be mentally quick enough to judge the situation and react accordingly.

Emotional

Those who are under the influence of alcohol also have the tendency to be overly emotional. These emotional tendencies can be particularly dangerous when they are already on the wheel because they are a form of distraction. Worse, the driver may even have tears in the eyes, creating possible vision problems.

Those who are drunk also have the tendency to be reckless. They are more likely to speed, tailgate, and weave through traffic.

In 2013, motor vehicle crashes claimed the lives of 32,719 individuals in the U.S. During the same year the number of people killed in road accidents in Sweden was 264. Sweden’s roads have become one of the safest roads on earth – with only three deaths out of every 100,000 Swedes as compared to the 11.4 per 100,000 individuals in the United States.

On September 3, 1967, a Swedish legislation that was passed in 1963, took effect. This legislation, also known as Dagen H or the Right-Hand Traffic Diversion, ordered a switch to right-hand traffic. Though everything seemed almost hilarious, but contrary to what so many said that the switch is murderous, road fatalities dropped more than 50% to the surprise of many. This was because everyone drove carefully; drivers had both of their hands on the wheel and both of their eyes on the road. Nobody or very few dared to fight for the way too.

Stating confidently that deaths or injuries on the road are not acceptable, the Swedish parliament wrote into law in 1997 its “Vision Zero” plan, which promises to eliminate road injuries and fatalities altogether. With the way they are handling and managing things, they are slowly proving that, indeed, mobility and safety can be enjoyed at the same time.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an estimated ninety-four percent of car crashes are due to errors committed by drivers. Driving errors are clear manifestations of irresponsible and bad road behavior. These activities, which have actually become an epidemic on U.S. roads and highways include, but are not limited to, speeding, drunk-driving, reckless driving, aggressive driving, failure to use signal lights, tailgating, changing lanes improperly, improper way of overtaking and distracted driving. Of all these, distracted driving is one contributing factor in accidents that can be committed by even the most careful drivers.

Distracted driving involves turning one’s attention from the act of driving to an activity that takes away a his/her attention off the road and/or his/her hand/s off the wheel. There can be an endless list of distracted driving activities, but to name a few of those most commonly committed, there is eating, drinking, conversing with a passenger, reading a map, grooming, using/adjusting a GPS, watching a video, adjusting a radio, a CD player, or any portable electronic device, fixing a tie, lighting a cigarette, driving while angry, texting or conversing with someone over a hand-held phone (these last two happen to be the leading cause of driving distraction, especially among young drivers).

Driving distractions are so normal that a driver, most often than not, will not even realize that he/she is already guilty of distracted driving. Unfortunately, whenever a driver gets distracted or makes mistakes, the most often result is a crash that can injure or even kill another.

With our smart phones and GPS devices within arms reach, our minds are easily distracted. This type of negligent behavior can lead to serious and sometimes fatal consequences.

As clearly pointed out by a Louisville car accident attorney, however, “If there is a single expectation that we should be able to have of other drivers, it should be that they will take every reasonable precaution to avoid causing an accident. Nonetheless, there are drivers out there who are so completely unaware of themselves and their surroundings that they end up causing serious accidents that should have been avoidable. That being said, drivers who do anything else to cause an otherwise preventable accident—like looking at their phone instead of the road—can usually be held financially liable for the accidents that they cause.”

Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Resulting to Life-threatening Injuries

After her 77-year old grandmother suffered a stroke and developed a pressure sore on her lower back and buttocks during her six weeks stay in hospital, Donna had her transferred into a nursing home, which claimed to have experience and knowledge in treating pressure sores. Her grandmother’s pressure sore (or bed sore) was at Grade 3 stage at the time of the transfer (Grade 1 is the least serious).

Rather than managing the bed sore and giving her grandma the best possible care, the bed sore only worsened, deteriorating to a life threatening Grade 4 wound which became all the more painful. Due to this, Donna’s grandma was rushed back to a hospital. Today, while nearly recovered from the once life-threatening bed sore in a new, but definitely wonderful nursing home, Donna is able to recall how her grandma lived with the pain, discomfort and distress of an entirely avoidable pressure sore for more than a year.

According to the police, not everyone was able to recover as Donna’s grandmother did; one resident died due to complications, while several others continued to suffer from extremely severe pressure sores – all in the same nursing home.

Bedsores resulting to death of residents have become frighteningly common in nursing homes. While neglect is the major cause for the development of this extremely painful wound, especially if it is not treated, or properly treated in time, its victims include hospital patients or nursing home residents who stay seated in wheelchairs for a long time or who stay immobile in their bed without being repositioned, turned, or cared for properly. These potentially life-threatening injuries frequently occur at the hips, lower back, elbow, ankles, and heels – areas where the bone and skin are very close in contact. One government body that sees an alarming increase in nursing home neglect lawsuits related to the development of bedsores are the courts.

West Palm Beach nursing home abuse lawyers of Schuler, Halvorson, Weisser, Zoeller and Overbeck, P.A. know how “moving an aging family member to a nursing home or other assisted living facility can be one of the most difficult decisions that a family makes, and it is usually done with the assumption that their loved one will be provided with the dedicated care and attention that they need and deserve.” Difficulty in making decisions is easily replaced with anger and resentment, though, as soon as family members find out that their loved one has been subjected to abuse, neglect or medical malpractice, which have become all too common and which expose vulnerable individuals to deplorable conditions that can result in serious injuries, illnesses, emotional trauma, and even death.

With the same thought, Chicago bedsores attorneys of Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, say that “Families that entrust the care of their loved ones to a nursing home facility have every reason to believe that they would only be treated with dignity and compassion throughout the duration of their stay.” This is because nursing home staff members know and should know how often residents, especially those with limited mobility, will need assistance shifting in their beds to prevent injuries, such as bed sores, from forming — in fact, residents probably need assistance shifting positions with greater frequency just to be comfortable. In any event, bed sores can be as potentially dangerous as they are thoroughly avoidable. Families that suspect that their loved ones have been abused or neglected at a nursing home can take decisive legal action against the responsible party to pursue compensation for all of their loved ones’ suffering.

Divorce can be one of the biggest life changers, because it involves separation from your partner, possibly with your kids, and division of liabilities and assets. For this reason, you should not just go around filing for divorce as a threat to your partner or as a reckless reaction to your partner’s imperfections.

Divorce can be very complex, especially when the partners involved have highly skilled professions. This is because of higher salaries and more valuable assets, which can be very difficult to divide.

In other words, you should be very serious if you are going to file for divorce, because the legalities and their complications will take a lot of time and money. If you are experiencing the signs below, you may have a legitimate reason to file for divorce.

You have done everything but the marriage is still not working

You have tried lowering your pride, adjusting to the imperfections of your partner, communicating with your partner more thoroughly, and even seeking the help of marriage counselors. If you have exhausted every option to repair your relationship but it appears that everything is still falling apart, it may be a sign that it is time to let it go.

You are emotionally exhausted

The counseling didn’t work. Arguments are still prevalent. In fact, it seems that the arguments are getting more severe and physical. Everything is just making you emotionally exhausted, and there are instances where divorce is the only way out. Take note that emotional exhaustion happens gradually, until you realize that enough is enough. It should be differentiated from sudden bursts of emotions that may make you do careless behaviors, such as recklessly filing for divorce.

You are staying just for the kids

The relationship has become cold because of various reasons, and it seems that it is not going to change any time soon. Staying just for the benefit of your children is an admirable deed, but you are making yourself vulnerable to emotional exhaustion, which can lead to further problems such as more severe fights and infidelity.

In our social world, many drivers have undoubtedly driven someone else’s car. However, people who lend their cars to friends or family always have some reservations about the liability they may incur. Many people often question whose insurance policy will cover a borrowed car. This involves a complicated answer that is primarily a case-by-case situation. The short answer is that auto insurance follows the car, not the driver.

Am I covered if I lend someone my car?

Depending on the rules of the individual policy, your insurance will most likely cover another driver; however, if you have given permission for another driver to operate your vehicle then you must accept that in many situations you may be held liable for an accident. All claims proceedings will be handled through your insurance, including paying the deductible and any possible rate increases. If your coverage limit has already been exceeded by the incident, then the driver’s insurance will be used as a secondary coverage to satisfy the difference.

Of course, if your friend or family borrowing the vehicle was not at fault for the accident then your insurance will not be affected. The at-fault party will be obligated to pay for any damages caused by the accident. Concurrently, if the driver of your vehicle was not given explicit permission to drive your car then the driver’s insurance policy will be considered the primary coverage.

Insurance policies are almost always full of caveats designed to allow insurance companies to easily deny coverage, especially in cases of dramatic injuries or deaths. Car accidents frequently cause severe, life-altering injuries. This is exactly the sort of thing an insurance company will try to deny covering. Make sure your coverage includes personal injury protection to keep yourself off the hook for these sorts of accidents.

Chemotherapy uses drugs or a combination of drugs during breast cancer treatment for purposes that include the shrinking of tumors, killing of remaining cancer cells (which were not removed during radiation therapy or surgery), curing of the cancer, slowing the cancer’s growth, keeping the cancer from spreading, and destruction of cancer cells that may have metastasized or that have spread to other parts of the body.

In chemotherapy, the drug used works by targeting rapidly growing cancer cells. During treatment, however, even healthy cells that grow rapidly also are affected, resulting to side-effects, like vomiting and diarrhea, when cells that line the stomach are affected, and/or alopecia, or loss of hair, when the cells in hair follicles get affected.

There are more than a hundred chemotherapy drugs used in treating breast cancer. One particular drug, Taxotere, which belongs to a class called plant alkaloids, was also approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat other types of cancer, including non-small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer, gastric cancer, and head and neck cancer.

Every year, about 180,000 to 300,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer (this is the most common form of cancer in women); more than half of them are treated with Taxotere. Because this drug is able to interfere with the growth and spread of cancer cells, it is said to be capable of improving life expectancy; however, is has also been linked to a disfiguring side effect: permanent hair loss, also called permanent alopecia.

As different from the hair loss suffered by breast cancer patients who have chemotherapy treatment, Taxotere hair loss is permanent rather than temporary. In 2005, Sanofi-Aventis, the manufacturer of Taxotere, informed other countries about Taxotere’s disfiguring side-effect. This same warning was also made in the U.S., but in 2015, ten years after and also after tens of thousands more of women have been treated with the drug.

Concealment of information on Taxotere’s disfiguring side-effect have denied breast cancer patients to make an informed choice. Due to this, many of them now suffer from permanent hair loss, which has profoundly impacted their quality of life. Due to it also, Sanofi-Aventis now faces lawsuits filed by angry and very disappointed women.